Welcome!

Introduction

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first ever guide of Nautilus, The Titan of the Depths! My name is Ragualith, and I shall be your guide as we explore, in my opinion, one of the greatest champions in League of Legends. Any feedback would be appreciated, so don't be afraid to leave comments below!

Of course, I will explain everything as we go on, so you have to stick around! If you just flipped to this guide and you're going into a match as a first time Nautilus, however, (yes, we ALL have done it), then I would skip to Masteries, Runes, Spell Sequence, and Items!

Nautilus excels throughout the match, having strong harass and escape abilities with Dredge Line and Riptide, as well as a damage absorbing shield and a powerful AoE on-hit DoT with Titan's Wrath. His unique ultimate Depth Charge adds a strong CC ability to his arsenal, making Nautilus one of the most well rounded champions in the game.

A big thanks and credit to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here. His guide and advice really helped me get started, as well as made this *hopefully* look AMAZING! :D

Why Am I making this guide?

I consider myself a pretty decent Nautilus player, and all the guides here on Mobafire were good, but they lacked what I believe he could really bring to the table, which is full tank/off tank. Most of them focus either on jungling or AP Nautilus. Now don't get me wrong, that is more than a great way to go with him, but I honestly see him more as a protector of the carries than an actual carry itself. Now, if you're fed, or your team is fed, or if you have a full tank, go more damage. But for the most part, that is how I play and recommend him to be played.

A few things before we get started...

Spoiler: Click to view

(skip this and return if you dont know something)

Crowd controller = Champion who has heavy crowd control (non-slow).
Squishy = Low-health champion / Easy to kill (Mostly focused during the teamfights).
Glass-cannon = Squishy champion with high damage output.
Spawn = Your spawning pool, place when you are rebirthed if you die. Spawn include shop.
Shop = Place when you buy new items (oh really?).
Burst = High damage output over short time.
Poke/Harass = simple attack on enemy champion, during laning, to make him issues with sustain.
Bait = To attract enemy champion with your low-health, to ambush and kill him with help of your hidden teammates.
Laning Phase = Early-game phase when players (excluding Jungler) are staying in their lanes (to Farm and get XP).
Teamfight = Battle between entire teams (Only mid-late game).
Mana-starving = Champion having problems with mana, not enough mana.
Facecheck = To check brush by simply walking into it (Risk to get ambushed by enemy).
Turret aggro = when turret focus you because you attacked enemy champion.
Towerdive = to follow enemy champion to its own Turret, to kill him before Turret kills you.
Pull (Jungle term) = To hit Jungle creep with one ranged autoattack/ability, helps Jungler at start of match.

- Slow early game- Not much damage output compared to your team, so you need to be aware of when to pull out of a fight- CD Dependent- Can be mana starved if you spam spells, especially early game- Skill shot oriented- Poor duelist (Needs team to fight well)

Masteries

Masteries Explanation

Solo Top

My masteries are a bit different than what you might find on a normal tank, simply because Nautilus is no normal tank. I mainly spec into defense, with the remainder going into offense. This allows for early aggressive play, denying CS to the enemy laner while being able to farm with your Staggering Blow. The masteries also shine mid to late game, with Juggernaut giving you more health and reduced stun time, much like Mercury's Treads. I use to go with my last 9 points into utility, but unless you just can't control your mana, which you should be able to anyway, there is nothing in that tree that could help you more than what is in the offensive tree.

Masteries

3/5

1/1

4/5

1/1

3/5

3/1

4/1

3/5

2/5

1/1

1/5

3/5

1/

As a tank, Nautilus's niche comes in the form of health, health regen, and damage mitigation.

Tier 3 - Veteran's Scars for the extra 30 health, which really helps you early game, as well as gives you more damage absorption with Titan's Wrath. I also get 2/2 in Indomitable mainly because I have extra points, although there has been plenty of times where I have survived by 10, 15, 20 health because of this.

Tier 4 - Since your naturally slow, I go with Initiator , mainly to start a team fight or gank, as the buff goes away once you drop below 70% health. I use to get Enlightenment for the CDR, but now, because I get shurelya's reverie, I don't get this because then I would be over the CDR capped of 40%, a waste. I also take one point in Siege Commander for those pesky towers.

Tier 5 - Nothing needed. I'll explain in a moment.

Tier 6 - What you have been building up for. Finish with one point in Juggernaut .

But Ragualith! What about Honor Guard ? 1.5% damage reduction is AWESOME!

Answer: While 1.5% of ALL damage is nice and sounds good, practically it doesn't put out. Let me give you an example:

I have 3/3 in Honor Guard , so I get the full 1.5% damage mitigation. Great. Look at the numbers. Keep in mind these examples are for attack damage only, but as I demonstrate, if you do the math, it is irrelevant to the answer.

1.5% multiplied by an average early game starting damage of 70. That's 1.05 damage that we aren't taking. AWESOME! So instead of 70, we are actually taking 68.95!

Now look at late game. 1.5% multiplied by 350 (an average number that I rounded/guesstimated. Not many people get past 350 unless you stack damage). That's a WHOPPING 5.25 damage mitigated! WOW!

You see how useless the talent is? Your only getting one damage off at level one, and a lousy 5 damage end game. Unless you're hell bent on getting this talent, your points are better used elsewhere.

I then go into the Offense Tree, making my harassing and damage much more ... intimidating.

Tier 1 - Start off with Brute Force and Butcher . This helps with last hitting minions, and gives you a bit more damage towards harassing and fighting.

Teir 2 - 4/4 points in Sorcery will get you as close to the CDR cap as possible with your item build, without going over.

Jungling in itself is an artform. You can't just go out there and do it without having any idea how to proceed. Ask any jungler, or any player for that matter, and they will probably tell you it's one of the most difficult things to do in the game. Constant map awareness, a planned path, knowing how and when to gank, tried and true masteries, the right runes, and important item choices are all needed in order to successfully make a jungler. This mastery build focus's on the natural tankieness that Nautilus has, while giving him added damage to clear his jungle faster.

Tier 2 - 3/3 in Durability gives us some extra health early game, and stacks very well mid to late game, helping us survive those nasty karthus ults with only 20 heath left. NOTE: While I use to spec into Vigor for the health regeneration, PsiGuard (Who was kind enough to review my guide) pointed out a few flaws in my idea, and so I experimented with it and found him to be correct! (Not surprisingly :p) Basically he pointed out that it would take longer for Vigor to regenerate the health of one point in Veteran's Scars than it would to clear your jungle. So, in retrospect, Vigor is not the greatest for jungling, especially if it is between that and Durability .

Tier 3 - 2/2 Indomitable and one point in Bladed Armor is necessary for early game jungling. Lower damage and return damage from minions both increase your jungle times. Also one point in Veteran's Scars helps a lot in the beginning phase of the jungling, when the minions seem to hit much harder.

Usually as a jungler you would go for the utility tree, so you could get the all powerful Runic Affinity , but as you are a tank, you won't be using those buffs at all after the first jungle through. So instead we go with the offensive tree to help our jungle time as well as our damage output.

Tier 1 - Start off with Brute Force and Butcher . It helps take down those jungle mobs faster, so they will stop hurting you. Ouch!

Tier 2 - Going 4/4 in Sorcery lets us spam our spells faster to get rid of those mobs, so we can go gank, which is what you really need to be doing as Nautilus.

Tier 3 - Arcane Knowledge is what we are going for, helping us all game with our damage from our spells. Not as good good as Runic Affinity , but then again you're a tank and so you don't get blue or red buffs, sad I know. :(

Runes

Rune Explination

Solo Top

I go for runes that with help me with my survival as well as my sustain lanning, and also getting some marks to help me with my damage.

Runes

Greater Seal of Armor9

Greater Quintessence of Health3

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist9

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration9

Greater Seal of Armor : 1.41 extra armor adds up with 9 of these, totaling an extra 12.69 base armor. This greatly helps early game when your harassing your opponent and your trying to prevent as much damage as possible. It also stays well up to late game, that 12 armor making a difference.

Greater Quintessence of Health : I go for bonus health instead of other possibilities because early game 50 health could mean the difference between life and death. This along with my Regrowth Pendant or Doran's Shield (depending on if you're laning against one or two people) gives you crazy amount of health and health regen, enabling you to stay in lane longer and deny them money and experience.

Good question, and while I would like to explain it, I found on another guide an excellent answer to that very question, full of facts and figures and other cool stuff.

"As you know, Titan's Wrath is Nautilus' "W" ability that has a shield that scales off health and applies a DOT to targets nearby the target he's auto attacking. In League of Legends, the first tick for DOT's apply instantly so in Nautilus' case where it ticks twice, it's technically only proccing for one second. Ideally if you want to maximize your damage, you want to stay under 1.0 Attack Speed so you can auto attack efficiently while having your DOT procs do the most efficient damage possible. Below, I'll show you some results after number crunching while experimenting with Nautilus' attack speed.

As you can see from the above, running 3 red alacrity runes give you the "most" DOT damage from Titan's Wrath when you have a Wit's End at Level 18 and in LoL, every tick of damage matters. The only questionable thing about this route is that your jungle clear might be compromised a bit because of the lack of attack speed. One of the big reason why I revolve Wit's End around this rune page set up is because of how strong Wit's End is for Nautilus with it's attack speed, minor on hit damage and magic resistance."

This was acquired from another Nautilus guide, by a well respected individual by the name of Xaioli. I want to say thank you to him for permission on use of this part of his guide, and a link to his own guide so you all can get another glimps of a well written guide ---> Here it is!

greater quintessence of vigor greater quintessence of vigor : These are another good option, as the added health regen is nice starting off in the jungle. Better jungle sustain and less time recalling is why this is a viable option. However, I would go for Greater Quintessence of Health over these because, as explained with the masteries, extra health at low level is much better for absorbing damage than health regen. Also would stack with Titan's Wrath.

For laning here is a video that I have found on other guide that really helps with knowing where to be and what that means:

Summoner Spells

The above picture gives a great starting point for new players to go off of, and at the same time gives a reference to experienced players to see what goes well with what.

Recommended Summoner Spells

Flash : This is a great summoner spell for ALL champions, as it provides a range of extra tricks to use, like flashing through a wall, catching up to a fleeing champion, escaping an enemy, or even dodging a skill shot. A really good choice for any type of play.

Teleport : I usually get this for the added ability to get to a lane quickly. This is very useful for turning a fight, scaring an enemy away from a tower, and generally pushing a tower yourself.

Exhaust : If you like shutting people down in a team fight, this is the choice for you. 40% slow, 70% reduced AD damage, and 35% reduced ability damage almost guarantee a kill for you if done properly. This is great for Nautilus as it adds another powerful CC ability to his arsenal.

Honestly, both Flash and Ghost are great escape/initiate mechanics, so I would pick the one that you are most comfortable with.

Some Alternate Choices

Heal : This is a viable pick for a heal for you team during those close 100 v 200 health battles, but other than early game, it doesn't help you as much as a Flash or Exhaust would. I would only get this if you are new with playing tanks or are having trouble with lane sustain.

Ignite : I don't usually get this, but if you would rather have just that bit more damage to kill that opponent, this is your spell. Does true damage, which means it goes straight through the persons armor and MR, which is very useful for people who have a lot of both. Also great for escaping opponents with very low health. However, if your supporting someone in a lane, like an AD carry, let them get this ability. You want them to get the kill, not you. Feed your Ad carry and you will have a major advantage throughout the game. Also recommended for Solo Top players, for that extra damage.

I realize there are a host of other summoner spells, but I just wanted to list a couple of the main ones that work well with Nautilus. If you feel that you should use another spell, go for it, or if I should add a specific spell because it is necessary to point out whether it is good/bad with Nautilus, speak up in the comments below!

This is one of the best passives in the game, having both scaling damage AND a stun with EACH HIT! You can use this for initiating a fight, stopping CC abilities, protect your squishy's, or stopping escaping enemies from running away. In combination with your Dredge Line, it is deadly.

Dredge Line : Nautilus throws his anchor forward. If he hits an enemy, he'll drag himself to his target and his target to him, dealing 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+75% of ability power). If he hits terrain, he will drag himself to the terrain and the cooldown is reduced by 50%.

This is your shinning spell. Ok, all of your spells are your shinning spells, but this one really has its uses. You can initiate fights, grab fleeing champions, and even get around with "wall hopping"! It has decent damage, and is a great setup for your Staggering Blow by pulling them in followed by a quick stun.

You should have a point in this early on, but extra levels is not needed till after you max out your Titan's Wrath and Riptide.

Tips and Tricks

Try not to initiate fights with this, as Depth Charge is a better initiator, and you want to save this for fleeing champions, or for those targeting your carries.

This can save your life when being ganked, as it provides a great way to escape by latching yourself onto a wall and being pulled into it. You can even pull yourself into bushes and juke your opponents. However, remember that there is a sight delay between throwing it and being pulled to the wall where you stand there. This can lead to boredom, insanity, and sometimes death.

Don't be afraid to use this as a damaging ability! It is great for its cc and escape purposes, but if you're just trying to lay the hurt on someone, spam it! Now, having said that, I wouldn't do that too much, as during team fights you should hold onto it till the other team is running, and drag someone back, preferably one of their carries, in for a kill.

Something I just recently figured out is that this ability goes over LEDGES, NOT WALLS. Just wanted to clarify that. The picture above shows where I am talking about. So lets say your up on the ledge that's near dragon; you can use this spell to drag yourself OVER the ledge and get to an enemy. IMAGINE the possibilities! This works for all ledges. However, it doesn't work the other way around; you try and pull yourself up a ledge and you'll find yourself between a rock and a hard place (place meaning an enemy champions fist).

While the shield persists, Nautilus' basic attacks apply a damage over time to all units around his target. This effect deals 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 (+40% of ability power) magic damage over 2 seconds.

Wow. Ok, I so lied, THIS is your shinning spell. This basically gives you the ability to dominate lanes. It gives you a powerful shield that stacks off of your total health, which works perfectly for us as a tank! So while they are chipping away at your shield, you can be killing them outright with your DoT from THIS SAME SKILL. :O!

"So your telling me that I get a shield AND a DoT effect ALL IN ONE?!"

SIGN ME UP!

The DoT, while not your most powerful move outright, does FAR more damage than any of your other abilities. This is because while your other abilities give slightly more damage, this gives damage WITH your auto attack EVERY HIT TO EVERYONE AROUND YOUR TARGET. So besides you basically getting two auto attacks for the time of one, you're hitting everyone around you're enemy. Pretty cool huh?

All of the above are the reasons why I max out this first before Riptide, even when I am laning with someone. This is because your Riptide is more of a cc spell rather than your main damage output, and will probably only be used once a "fight" early game, for when your enemy is running away and you hit Riptide so your AD carry can get the kill. However, I want to point out that if you are laning with someone, get a point in Riptide at level two and a point in Dredge Line at level 3.

Tips and Tricks

As this is your main damage output, max it first unless hard cc is required, and you need to drop the cool down on those abilities.

This ability resets your auto attack, so try and go into a fight, hit someone with your Staggering Blow, then immediately hit Titan's Wrath, and watch you double hit your opponent. This works great in the jungle for double hitting those mobs.

Remember, your DoT hits EVERYONE around your target, so don't be afraid to focus one target down, and let your DoT work on the other enemy.

Also, your DoT is not a very long range (i'd guess a little more than your melee distance standing where your opponent is). However, you CAN pull some neat trick's with this range. Lets say you just were in a fight with two people, and they are both running close to each other back to their tower. The one farther away has only a sliver of health, and you can't reach him with your Dredge Line because the other guy is in your way. NO PROBLEM! Just pop this bad boy, hit the target closer to you, and watch your DoT jump to him and get that kill. He will rage quit every time.

This stacks great with Warmog's Armor, but I would only recommend that if your a big fan of Warmog's Armor, you want more health, or you feel comfortable that your damage mitigation is good enough. The reason is is because by the end of my item build, you have over 3k health and tons of resist, plenty for your shield. NOTE: I do get Warmog's Armor now, as you have enough resistances by level 18 and if you build Nautilus right. So now you can focus on health!

For solo top, or even tank bot with carry, this is your harass spell. Use this when you go in to a fight, and hit them as much as possible to apply your DoT and send them cowering in fear.

Riptide : Nautilus slams the ground, causing the earth to explode around him. Each explosion deals 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+50% of ability power) magic damage to units in the area and slows them for 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50% for 2 seconds. This slow diminishes over time. A unit can be hit by more than one explosion but they take 50% less damage from additional explosions up to a maximum of 120 / 200 / 280 / 360 / 440 (+100% of ability power) magic damage.

This is by far one of the most powerful AoE CC's in the game, slowing escaping enemies by a whopping 50% WHILE damaging them for a significant amount. It has a wide range, forming a circle around Nautilus and triggering 3 explosions that radiate outward from you, the innermost explosions going off first, followed by the middle ones, then the farthest out explosions. This system is great for hitting escaping champions, letting you hit them twice for more damage and a longer slow time.

While a great damaging ability, it is a mana drainer if spammed, so we go for it only for the CC early on. Get a point in this by level 4, and max it out after you max out by level 13 after your Titan's Wrath.

Tips and Tricks

Since this is a big mana drain if spammed, don't use this to harass, but only use it to do damage and/or slow an opponent during a fight. You'll find your self OOM (out of mana) if you misuse this spell.

In conjunction with your Dredge Line, it is a great way to start a team fight. Slowing and damaging your enemy champions will leave them like they are at a disadvantage before the fight ever begins, which is an advantage for you. Anytime you can psych the enemy out and make them make a mistake, do it.

This is also useful for an escape tool, slowing the enemy team down long enough for your carries, if not yourself, to get away. PROTECT THOSE CARRIES!!!

Depth Charge : Nautilus fires a shock wave that chases an enemy champion. This deals 125 / 175 / 225 (+40% of ability power) magic damage to enemies it passes through and knocks them into the air.

The shock wave explodes upon hitting its target, dealing 250 / 350 / 450 (+80% of ability power) magic damage, launching them into the air and stunning them for 1 / 1.5 / 2 seconds.

Besides Malphite ultimate, Unstoppable Force, I believe this to be the best initiator in the game. In some ways, it is even better than Unstoppable Force, because you don't run into the middle of the group to cast this spell. Depth Charge basically knocks everyone up into the air that it touches, and the person it is cast on is both knocked up (hehe) and stunned for 1~2 seconds, while doing damage.

Of course get a point in this whenever you can, like any other champion and its ultimate.

Tips and Tricks

Always, always, ALWAYS initiate with this in a team fight, not with Dredge Line. This is for both saving your Dredge Line for later use on escaping players, and getting the max amount of knock ups with the cast. This ensures your team can have a jump start on the enemy team, and more than likely leading to a team fight victory. However, if you find yourself in a team fight that you didn't start, then you want to make sure that you focus this ult on the person who is most threatening on your team. If you're team is doing their job right, you and your allies should be focusing the main damage carriers (carries) down first; use it on them.

This will follow stealthed players as well, if you're lucky enough to catch them as they are stealthily. It won't reveal them out of stealth mode, however, so you would have to listen for where it hits and cast some AoE's in that area.

Try and cast it on a champion in the back of the enemy team, hopefully a carry. This shuts down their carry for 1~2 seconds, and also hits everyone that is in between them and you.

This spell originates where you are facing from your anchor. So if you are running away and the enemy champ is behind you and you cast this ult, it will start in front of you and work its way back to the target.

Items

NOTE: This part of the guide is currently being updating, so it doesn't reflect completely the item build that I now recommend, which can be found up top on the cheat sheet. While there are some still relevant information in this part of the guide, keep in mind it WILL be changed ASAP. Thank you.

Ah, the dreaded item build. Your items are what define you, what separate you and the lesser Nautilus' in the world. Here, I will explain why I choose what, what are some good situation items, and the general know-how of how to build a great Nautilus.

Starting build

Solo Top

: This is generally what I start with when going solo top. The Regrowth Pendant builds into your philosopher's stone later on, and it provides a nice health regen for early game. The health potion is for when you get ignite on you, and you need to counter it with some fast health regen, but mainly is bought because you have extra money.

: I sometimes get this if I am facing a 1v2 lane, and so I know I am going to need the extra health to survive their harassment. Otherwise, go with the Regrowth Pendant as it builds into something useful.

X3 : If you are facing a skill shot champion, or just like the extra boost of speed, get these. Pretty general, builds into your boots early on, and helps you get catch up to or get away from champions.

Jungling

X3 : What I start with now. If you jungle correctly and get the right runes and masteries, you do not need the cloth armor usual set up. Plus boots let you increase your jungle speed and greatly helps with ganks.

X5 : The basic starter package for all junglers, the extra armor building into your Randuin's Omen later on, or even possibly a Wriggle's Lantern if you decide to get that.

If you have experimented with Nautilus jungling and have found any more useful ways to start out, feel free to leave a comment, or PM me.

Early Game build

Now that you have got some gold, either by destroying your opponents or last hitting jungle or minions, you should have enough to head back and buy your first couple of items.

: Finish out your boots, whatever is needed to counter the team, before you build any big items. It helps with speed and gives you some nice bonuses for really cheap.

: Get this after your heart of gold or boots, or if the enemy ad carry is fed. This has nice CD reduction, as well as some armor and mana, both helping you last longer in fights. This builds into our Frozen Heart later on.

: After a little armor, we need some health to go along with it! This greatly increases your tankiness, and once you get this you can start to tank fights much more effectively, protecting those necessary carries.

Jungling

Jungling items are a bit different, but generally leaning the same direction. We aim for a lot of tankyness, while going for a sizable amount of damage.

: I get these right off the bat, as you should be ganking A LOT as a jungler, and one of your draw backs is speed. Helps you catch up to your slower enemies, and watch as you feed your carries.

: I get this before philosopher's stone first because your Titan's Wrath stacks with this, and since your going tank, might as well get some early health. Also gives you 5 gold per 10 sec.

: I now go for these, because as a junlger you want to be the fastest one out there, able to run through your jungle in seconds and get to lanes quickly. Other boots are nice, like Mercury's Treads, for countering the enemy team. Get what boots you need when you need them, as always.

philosopher's stone : Sustain and extra 5 gold per 10 sec are the reason why I make this small investment early on. That, and it builds into our future shurelya's reverie.

: Some early armor not only helps with the jungle but ganks as well, not to mention the mana and CDR. This item is great on a jungle Nautilus, and a must to get it early on.

: Another item that both stacks well with your Titan's Wrath as well as more health equals longer sustain in a fight. Building health and resistances at the same time, I have found, is the best way to build a tank in LoL.

: I see a lot of Nautilus junglers running around with this, and through my own research have come to the conclusion that it is a great item for jungler Nautilus to have. It stacks MR every time you hit, and increases your AS greatly, making you stack Titan's Wrath DoT much more quickly, providing that much more damage. I get it as my first "item" because it gives you nice early MR and greatly helps with your ganking potential. If you can't afford this right off the bat, don't be afraid to get the AS part ( Recurve Bow) of it. Make sure you same room for wards!

Mid Game build

Now is the point where you start defining who you are. Mid game is where most games finish up, as what has happened early game affect how you build and act mid game. Do well here, and you're looking at an early victory.

Solo Top

: This I get after Giant's Belt because, depending on how my team is doing and how the enemy team is doing, the AP Carry won't be doing to much damage to you, requiring MR earlier. Great armor, some mana to make sure that you can always cast your spells, and an awesome 20% CD reduction make this a perfect item for Nautilus, along with a sweet passive that reduces enemy champions around you AS by 20%, helping slow the AD carries potential for destruction. Rush this if the enemy AD carry gets fed, but if your doing your job right that shouldn't happen.

shurelya's reverie : While it might seem a support only item, it actually is a great item for Nautilus. CDR, health, health regen, mana regen, and a good active that lets your team run or initiate all make it a good reason to get it. With my build, you already have enough resistances, and so getting some extra heath and utility in one item is a must.

: I usually get this around this time, if not sooner to counter the AP carry. Very nice MR that you need, and builds into our Force of Nature for extreme unstoppableness (yes, I just made that into a word). Get this after Giant's Belt if they're AP carry is fed.

: After we have gotten most of our resistances, we need more health to stay ahead of the pack. This is the most health item in the game, and we make full use of it. With this, you become a fully fledged tank, able to sty in the fight and CC their team to hell.

Jungling

At this poing you are dealing a ton of damage, and hopefully helping your teammates out by feeding them. REMEMBER: That is your job as a jungler, feeding your carries. Now, if your experienced in jungling, you already know that and much more than I in jungling, but I just wanted to make sure that the people who are just starting out in jungling know that. Now we want to start focusing on our more tanky items, essentially becoming a half tank/half damage dealer mid to late game.

: Same reasons as the solo top build, this item is a great item for all Nautilus'.

: Since we are a jungler, we are leaning more towards the damage side of things. We are already pretty tanky, and this DOES give us a nice bonus to our health. The reason I get this now, though, is that I am assuming that you have a tank or another offtank on the team that can soak up some damage as well. So why not dish out some yourself? This item gives us health, passive slow, and AP, which our abilities scale very well off of. However, if you are the only "tanky" person on the team, trade it out for a more tanky item, like Warmog's Armor.

shurelya's reverie : Again, SEEMS more of a support item, but definitely works on Nautilus, especially a jungle built one. Great for initiating and the CDR really makes a difference.

: I usually build this last because I usually have no problems with my resistances and I try and keep on my Heart of Gold for as long as I can. The active is also GREAT for team fights, where you need to pull out all the stops. Don't forget to click that active!

Late Game build

If you have made it this far, then more than likely most of the champions are either close to done or finished their build. One team fight could change the outcome of the game. It is no longer about who is more fed, so much as what items everyone has chosen, and the skill level of each player. I can fortunately help you with at least one of those areas.

Solo Top

: Finally we build our Negatron Cloak into something! This means that with Warmog's Armor, you basically become an unstoppable super being, with their entire team having to focus you down if they ignore you.

: I choose this option over others because I feel like Nautilus should be played as a full tank, allowing his cc abilities to keep from getting his carries killed as they do all the damage. Added health, more health regen, and a good active makes this a great option for any tank. Get this after you get most of your items, as it builds from your Heart of Gold, and we want to hold onto that gps for as long as possible.

You don't like my items?! Well FINE then!

NOTE: This part of the guide is currently being updating, so it doesn't reflect completely the item build that I now recommend, which can be found up top on the cheat sheet. While there are some still relevant information in this part of the guide, keep in mind it WILL be changed ASAP. Thank you.

Situational Items

The same items won't be used in every match, all the time. That is not how League of Legends is played. You build to your strengths, but you also take into account the enemy team's composition. Plus, you might disagree with the item choices that i have, which is understandable, as no one can be as smart as me (:D), so here is a list of some items that you might want to look at for those I'm-going-to-spite-Mavrick moments.

: This items gives AP, heath, and mana, all good stats on Nautilus, however not necessarily a tanky one. True, it is a viable option, but I feel that the items I chose give him better survivability than this. Plus, you would have to get it early game for its passive to have any value. Get this in replacement with Frozen Mallet only if you are able to catch the other team pretty well.

: An amazing counter to a heavy AD/MR team, shredding their MR while giving you a nice size of the same. The AP doesn't hurt as well ;).

: Want some more damage? This is the Infinity Edge for casters, something you definitely want for your DoT on your Titan's Wrath and other spells. Keep in mind that you sacrifice some tankyness for more damage.

: I don't usually worry about this as the support usually gets this, but this is a viable option on Nautilus for the health and resistances, as well as that nice aura to help out your allies, which is always a must!

Jungling

Nautilus is a very slow jungle champion, but has amazing ganks. His early jungle game is weak, but as the game goes on, he becomes much stronger, able to take out the mobs within seconds. These videos explains that and a lot more, and I recommend watching them before attempting to jungle with Nautilus. If you have to only watch one video, watch the first one, as it describes jungle Nautilus in depth, where as the second video is only the jungle route.

This is a great Nautilus jungle guild by stonewall008, and has a lot of very good tips and ponters when jungling with Nautilus. While I don't generally go for some of the same items as he does, they are viable picks and can be explained in his video. However you build him, though, make sure to gank, gank and GANK!

Another video by stonewall008. This gives you a rough jungle route to follow with Nautilus, and leaves room for plenty of ganks and forcing team fights, something that you should be doing when rolling with Nautilus jungle. The basic route is as follows:

Wolves

Blue Golem

Possible gank top

Wraiths

Possible gank mid

Here you can switch it up differently than the video, which applies to a more realistic situation:

Red Lizard

golems

Possible gank bot

Wraiths

Repeat

That is what I use most of the time, a bit different for each game of course. The point is that you must be ganking A LOT as Nautilus because that is his whole jungle persona.
The above picture is also the normal route for jungler's, in case you were wondering. XD

When counter jungling, FORCE TEAM FIGHTS. The first video does a great job of explaining that, and if you skipped the first video, go back and watch it! It is definitely worth the investment in time.

Summary

As you can see, I try and put a lot of thought in how I say to play Nautilus because he is a great champion to play, but master him and you can be a bruiser, tank, and support all in one. Plenty of the pro's play him simply because of this! I hope you enjoyed the guide, and if you have a questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comments post below! Thanks for your time, and good luck out their summoners!

Changes

6/13/12 - Changed Frozen Mallet to Sunfire Cape for reasons listed.
6/13/12 - Adding a jungle route and guide on how to Jungle with Nautilus; coming soon
6/13/12 - Fixed some minor errors in what I said and how I said it; Added pictures!

6/19/12 - Added my own video to the guide of an epic escape from a 2v3 gank!

6/22/12 - Finished Creeping/Jungling guide, with videos!
6/22/12 - Added more situational items
6/22/12 - Changed jungle runes to get a better jungle time, as well as added more situational runes for jungling and reasons behind them.
6/22/12 - Changed the title of guide to show what builds are in this guide

7/8/12 - Started work on reviewing and editing the guide

7/25/12 - Back from trip, continued working on guide. Almost complete!

7/26/12 - DONE! The guide is updated, and much better for the current meta IMO. Check it out!

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!